Ouachita Police Jury members said roads must be the priority for the parish after a guest suggested they put a tax to support constructing an animal shelter before voters.

Rita Tucker addressed the jury with fundraising options to aid shelter construction, including "the T-word."

Jury members Pat Moore, District F, and Mack Calhoun District B, specifically said that roads must be the jury's priority, and others expressed interest in attempting fundraising before taking the issue to voters.

"I think that is a challenge, but I think that that's something that we at least have to attempt to do before we go to the public to ask for taxes," said Walt Caldwell, District C. "There's no question that there are lots of motivated, interested people in the community ... in favor of this shelter."

Land 3 Architects’ Bill Land said his report on recommendations for the new shelter should be ready by next week. He said the current estimated construction cost is about $3 million and will propose building the facility at a new, more visible location that has yet to be determined. If a new location is not amenable to the jury, he said the current site can handle the addition of new structures.

Land said the floor and construction plans were created after studying new, state-of-the-art shelters in Bossier City; Dallas; Jackson, Miss.; and Little Rock, Ark. He said the plans eliminate mistakes made at those facilities and incorporate the benefits from different sites for a project scaled to the parish's needs.

Tucker said more than 3,400 people signed a petition in support of the new shelter.

"If we build a better shelter, we will have more volunteers and more lives will be saved," Tucker said. "More people will adopt. They'll want to come to the shelter and visit it."

Other ideas she suggested include raising adoption fees, collaborating with other shelters, adding a dog-training program at Ouachita Correctional Center, enacting breeder licencing fees and including a small retail space at the new shelter to help provide supplies to new pet owners.

Moore said Tucker's idea of an advisory board for the shelter is one the council should consider.